David Adeang

Politician + Speaker + Foreign Minister

Male

BornNov 24, 1969

Age45

HometownNauru

Political PartyNaoero Amo

ReligionChristian

NationalityNauruan

David Waiau Adeang is a Nauruan politician, and a former Speaker of the Parliament of Nauru, and a former Foreign Minister of Nauru. He is a founding member of the Naoero Amo (Nauru First Party), currently the only successful political party on the island.… Read More

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Family

Discover the family history of David Adeang.

David Adeang

Age 45

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Timeline

Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of David Adeang.

CHILDHOOD

1969Birth
Born in 1969.

THIRTIES

200132 Years Old
David Adeang's father is Kennan Adeang, who served three times as President of Nauru. David Adeang began his political career as a lawyer. After all Ubenide seats had been vacated on 6 November 2001, Adeang won a seat in the following by-election, ousting Joseph Hiram while the other three previous MPs regained their seats.

In April 2004, Adeang was charged with sedition along with Kieren Keke and Fabian Ribauw after a protest at Nauru's airport. In June 2004 Clodumar and the Naoero Amo united to re-elect Scotty as President.
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Clodumar remained finance minister, while Adeang became Minister of Foreign Affairs and Justice. Also, the charges against Adeang and the others were dropped. His appointment as foreign minister is interesting because he was the first foreign minister not to be the President of Nauru. That post had been given to the President since Nauru gained independence in 1968. Read Less

Adeang was easily re-elected to Parliament from the Ubenide constituency in the October 2004 elections.
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Later that month, he left the position of justice minister, became finance minister, and retained the position of foreign minister. Read Less

Adeang was easily reelected in the August 2007 parliamentary election.
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He received the most votes in the Ubenide constituency, which elects 4 seats. Read Less

In September 2007, Adeang, as Foreign Minister, made a number of public statements deemed in the United States to be controversial.
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He extolled Cuba and criticized US foreign policy, during a visit to the Caribbean island. Read Less

The US Department of State, referring to events investigated in 2007, reported criticism of Adeang in its Human Rights Report, issued for 2008.
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This criticism was included in the State Department's report, despite the fact that police, having undertaken an investigation of allegations of wrongdoing, made no attempt to prosecute Adeang. Read Less

Allegations of misconduct on the part of Adeang and Scotty's unwillingness to act against Adeang led to the resignation of several members of the government - Kieren Keke, Frederick Pitcher, and Roland Kun - and an unsuccessful motion of no-confidence against Scotty's government on 13 November 2007.
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Although a majority of those voting supported the motion (eight in favor, seven opposed), it fell short of the necessary nine votes. However, another vote on 19 December was successful in ousting Scotty, and Marcus Stephen was elected President; Stephen named Kieren Keke to replace Adeang as Foreign Minister. Read Less

In an unusual alliance, in March 2008 Adeang and former President Rene Harris moved to attempt a motion of no confidence in President Marcus Stephen, which was, however, thwarted by the resignation of the Speaker of the Parliament of Nauru.
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It was noted that Adeang was a former strong critic of Mr. Harris's record in government. Read Less

Subsequently in March 2008, Adeang was appointed Speaker of the Parliament of Nauru, succeeding Riddell Akua.

On 22 March, Adeang called a Parliamentary session, allegedly without informing government ministers, who therefore did not attend. Opposition MPs, Adeang included, constituted a majority of legislators present, and passed a ruling outlawing dual citizenship for Members of Parliament. The ruling, if applied, would affect senior Cabinet ministers Dr. Kieren Keke and Frederick Pitcher. Were they compelled to resign from Parliament, the Opposition would control a majority of seats in Parliament. The government rejected the legitimacy of the ruling, stating that it was unconstitutional because of the lack of parliamentary quorum. President Marcus Stephen accused Adeang and the Opposition of passing the ruling "after dark on Easter Saturday", "under candelight". For his part, Adeang asserted that the 22 March session of Parliament was valid.<br /><br /> On 28 March, Adeang, as Speaker, ordered Keke and Pitcher to vacate their seats in Parliament. They refused to do so, and Adeang suspended the sitting. Read Less

The crisis continued into early April 2008, with Adeang stating that he would consider the Supreme Court's ruling as "just an opinion", and Keke responding that the Supreme Court, not the Speaker, had the jurisdiction to determine a member of Parliament's eligibility.
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On 7 April, it was reported by the government that the Supreme Court had ruled in the government's favour, apparently confirming that the law forbidding members of Parliament from holding dual nationality was anticonstitutional and invalid, due to lack of quorum. The Court also reportedly rejected Adeang's claim that the courts have no jurisdiction over Parliament. Adeang said that he would seek legal advice before responding to the court's ruling.<br /><br /> Relations between Adeang, as Speaker of the Parliament of Nauru, and the Stephen Administration, remained under severe strain following the ruling, and the Administration's ministers continued to exercise executive powers without the support of Parliament.<br /><br /> Following the 7 April release of the Supreme Court decision which ruled against the dual nationality law, with the passing of which Adeang was particularly identified, Adeang indicated that forty years of post-independence Parliamentary precedent had been set aside. For its part, the government of Marcus Stephen strongly welcomed the Supreme Court's ruling: whether or not for ideological and principled reasons also, it was seen as ensuring the immediate survival of the Administration. Read Less

Adeang was replaced as Speaker of the Parliament of Nauru by Riddell Akua (who also preceded him as Speaker), following the elections of 26 April 2008, when President Marcus Stephen increased his support.

With the death in July 2008 of former President Rene Harris, David Adeang lost an important ally with whom he had closely worked in the earlier part of 2008.